Jordan denied Tuesday that Crown Prince Hamzah had been involved in a training exercise on board a military transport plane that crashed in the morning, killing 13 soldiers.

The accident happened near a military base in the town of Mafraq, around 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Amman, a senior official told AFP.

Shortly after news of the crash became known, a Jordanian official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Crown Prince Hamzah had been among the 60 men who had parachuted from the plane during the training exercise.

However, Petra subsequently denied the report, saying the prince had been on his way there when the crash occurred.

"Prince Hamzeh was on his way to take part in the training, when he was informed of the accident. Of course he immediately went to Mafraq where the Hercules C-130 crashed," an unidentified official told the agency.

A military spokesman said earlier that 14 soldiers of different ranks were on board an Air Force Hercules C-130 that crashed as a result of a mechanical fault during a routine training mission for elite troops.

But another statement carried later by Petra revised the figure to 13 and said the dead included officers, non-commissioned officers and privates.

An AFP photographer who went to the scene saw wreckage from the plane scattered over a desert area, about two kilometers (one mile) from the Amman-Mafraq highway.

The bodies of the victims were taken to the morgue in the Hussein medical complex in Amman.

Soldiers combed the crash area, but road traffic was not been interrupted - AMMAN (AFP)